


Enough

by KnightsofEclipse



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Meaningful Echo, Not Canon Compliant, Parallels to Cora's death, The Marian Theory, Zelena is Marian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 20:06:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14316183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightsofEclipse/pseuds/KnightsofEclipse
Summary: Kind of what-if. Mostly not canon. Zelena has a question for Robin when he comes to see her in the asylum. Robin surprises her with the answer. WickedOutlaw.





	Enough

“What if there was no Marian?” It had been eating Zelena up from the inside for some time, this secret she kept.

Robin, who despite having come to see her, had been avoiding looking at her but now turned a quizzical gaze on her. “What did you say?” Despite his forceful tone, and the step he took towards her, he sounded more confused than angry.

Zelena ducked her head and took to lacing her fingers together in her lap. “Nothing,” she mumbled into her hair. How she wished she weren’t wearing this magic-cancelling cuff so she could erase his memory of her words.

Robin closed the distance between them and sat on the edge of the bed. “No, you said something.” His hand hovered for a moment, like he was weighing his options, before landing lightly on her knee. “What was it?” He leaned in, showing he genuinely wanted to hear what she had to say.

Her head rose, just enough that she was looking at him level through her hair. “What if there was,” she took a breath to calm her suddenly shaky nerves, “I mean, what if it were just me? If there was no Marian,” her gaze fell away. A moment passed before she re-found the confidence in her words. “What if I made her up?”

She expected shouting, and accusations. The room remained silent. She dared to look at him and found his face twisting into various expressions as he silently came to understand what she had said. She saw something dawn in his eyes briefly before it was roughly shoved away.

“And everything would be exactly the same?”

“Yes,” Zelena breathed the word. “But I would, there wouldn’t have,” she couldn’t get her thoughts in the right order. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply before trying again. “I was, am, Marian.” 

She cracked one eye open to watch Robin tapping his chin in the same rhythmic fashion an old wizard would stroke his beard. “Well, I suppose that makes things simpler.” He was much calmer than Zelena could have anticipated. “We wouldn’t be in this situation,” he gestured around the room. “And I guess I shouldn’t have left to be with Regina, should I have?” He cracked a teasing smile, dispelling the tense air that had begun to set in. “I would have never lost my happy ending.”

Zelena stared at him, open-mouthed and unsure. Did he believe her? Or was he still under the impression this was a ‘what-if’ scenario? “You’re fine with this?” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Robin thought for a moment. “No, not entirely. I have a lot of questions.” He reached out and gently lifted her chin. “It will take some adjusting. Love isn’t easy. And whatever went through your head to get you here just goes to prove that.” His free hand came up to push her hair back from her face. “Did you think I wouldn’t love you for you?”

Zelena shook her head, shaking his hands away. “I don’t know what I thought.” But she did; she thought she wasn’t enough. She thought everyone else in her life had thrown her aside that why should Robin be any different. She thought: if he couldn’t love her, he could at least love Marian.

“Here’s what I think,” Robin rose from the bed. “I think we have a lot to figure out,” he turned his smile back to her, “And we’re going to figure it out together. I’ve got you back, I’m not going to lose you again.”

Zelena couldn’t keep the self-defence sarcasm from ending the nice mood. “If you say some cheesy Charming line, I swear, Regina can have you.”

His smile softened. “You’re my happy ending, Zelena.” He chuckled, “You’re stuck with me.”

Zelena raised an eyebrow. “That’s it then? You won’t regret this?” She left unsaid what she was really worried about.

Robin returned to the bed, sitting much closer and collecting her face in his hands. He knew she wasn’t saying what was really on her mind. He gazed lovingly into her eyes. “I could never regret this. You didn’t need Marian. You would have been enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can ignore this ramble.
> 
> Apart from Word of God, we have no proof that Zelena and Marian aren't the same person. The timeline works out that there is no conflict with the things each character did in the Enchanted Forest so reasonably they could have been one person jumping back and forth. This theory probably came about because of the time travel episode and that we only have Zelena's word that she killed Marian, and we know Zelena is a liar. 
> 
> I am definitely interested in writing more in this verse. If others want to write in this verse please tag with The Marian Theory so I can read it :)


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